Event - Making Strange Exhibition

I also attended the Making Strange exhibition in Fowler Museum. This exhibition was created by Vivan Sundaram who is a contemporary artist who lives in Delhi. First of all, I thought it was interesting to see art from India. This art from India is unlike any art that I have seen before. That is because it is made from recycled materials and medical supplies. I thought this was a very interesting concept and one that is very forward looking in our society. It not only combines medicine and art by using medical supplies as art but if artists were able to use recycled goods for all of their art in the future I believe that would be great as well. The exhibit contains twenty-seven sculptures made from foam cups, surgical masks, hospital bandages and more. This part of the exhibit was known as Gagawaka and Sundaram paired this part of the exhibit with another set of sculptures known as Postmortem. The Postmortem exhibit stayed with the medicine and art theme by depicting the human body with anatomical models that examined aging and sickness. I believe that Sundaram was attempting to shed light on medicine, aging and conservation. Essentially he demonstrated how the human body will age but through the use of medicine we can prolong that process. Further, we must be able to conserve for humans to be able to age gracefully and medicine to have a lasting impact on our society. I hope this exhibit brings to light the ideas of conservation in today's society. I believe that if everyone could see this exhibit, they would realize the beauty of the acts of conservation and this idea would spread across the globe. Hopefully it could influence the way people see the world and that we want and need to sustain it for our future generations. Further, if an artist in a highly densely populated area like India can create this art using recycled goods, there is no reason that contemporary artists in the United States can't do the same. 

Me in front of a few sculptures

Sculptures made from recycled goods

The front of the exhibit

Event 2 - Fowler museum

I visited the Fowler museum and saw the Reflecting Culture exhibit for the Fowler Collection of Silver. I thoroughly enjoyed other exhibits at the museum but this one stood out to me the most for me to write about. This exhibit contained 251 different objects that came from Europe, Britain and the United States. The silver objects were all still in great condition which I thought was pretty remarkable. The objects came from well known silversmiths and jewelers such as Paul de Lamerie from Britain, Karl Faberge from Russia and Paul Revere from the United States. What I thought was most interesting about this exhibit was that these pieces of silver can convey what is going on at that time period. For example, comparing the silver from Paul Revere in the United States looked similar to some of the contemporary silver from Britain. This made me realize that even though the United States and Britain are across the Atlantic Ocean, they share these creative similarities. The colonies that came from Britain significantly influenced the United States's social culture. Furthermore, it seemed that silver in this time period demonstrated societal hierarchy. Citizens who had wealth had these nice pieces of silver. It showed that they had money and that they needed to have it in their cabinets or on their tables so that others could see it and think highly of them or status. 

This exhibit therefore really connects to me on the combination of society and art. Art can be a reflection of the ongoing societal norms. We can use it to gain insight into the past to see how people lived and how people with different socioeconomic backgrounds lived as well. I never thought that this would be the case before I took this class, but after learning about society and art and then actually viewing it in an exhibit, the connection really took hold. I would recommend this exhibit to anyone looking for insight into our past world. 

The sign for the entrance to the Fowler Collection of Silver

Image from a collection of silver

Me in front of the Fowler Collection of Silver

Event 1 - Hammer museum

For my first event, I visited the Hammer museum looking at the the Charles Gaines gridwork that he developed. It was definitely an amazing experience visiting the museum and the reason why I chose to take pictures at this specific exhibit while visiting the rest of the museum is because Gaines made his pictures or "gridwork" using numbers. He drew a number, 1 through 9, in small centimeter by centimeter squares that culminated in an entire picture. I thought this was unique and it appealed to be as well because I too like numbers. This was an exhibit that also related to our topic mathematics and art. Not only did the pieces of art contain numbers, but they had to be systematically placed and aligned in order to come together in a final piece. Each color was a part of the rest of the grid that came together to make the pictures of the trees. I had really never seen anything like this before in my life, and it got me to think that this may be something that I could actually venture into. I am not a great artist by any means when it comes to any kind of freehand drawing. However, if I was able to mathematically create a drawing using a type of grid, and then just had to fill in the grid with different colors, I believe I could be able to do that. Perhaps this is a possible entry to a future career that I can have or it is a possible future hobby. Either way this exhibit made me very fascinated about this specific type of art, and pushed my thinking to another level. 

Photo outworn the Charles Gaines exhibit

Me outside the Hammer museum!

Me in front of four of Gaines' works of art

Week 8 - Nanotech and Art

This week I discovered through the readings, lectures, and TED talks how Nanotechnology and art work together to become the new medium of art. Through the development of new computer software’s and technology we can view art in a different way than we used to be able to.

For example a form of nanotechnology art that I thought was very amazing is Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau’s invisible sculpture that they created. This sculpture is only accessible through touch, which is a whole new concept in itself. Their sculpture idea is by wearing a magnetic ring so you think you are touching a physical object, but in reality you are only feeling the magnetic force the ring is propelling. This idea is very innovative because it uses not just artistic skills and background but incorporates science and technology as well. This medium of art is becoming more common especially with the exponential growth we have had in technology over the past couple of years.

We also see art in molecular programming and nanotechnology of DNA. In Paul Rothemund’s TED talk he explains in how strands of DNA he can make alternative forms of art, like he did with the smiley face, or it can even be possible to make a person drawing out of long and short DNA strands. He explained also that you can encode words into DNA. Dr Gimzewski explained in his lecture that one of his students also wrote UCLA with the scanning tunneling microscope. Gimzewski also stated "Astronomers look at stars and discover something new. We looked at atoms and saw a landscape you can't imagine."

Art is progressively getting more and more technologically advanced as time goes on, and as computing programs keeps growing exponentially.

Dr. Gimzewski

DNA Strand

Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau

Works Cited

“Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau." Viewing Space. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://www.viewingspace.com/genetics_culture/pages_genetics_culture/gc_w05/somm_mign.htm>.

“DNA folding, in detail." TED. Web. 30 May. 2015.

<http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_rothemund_details_dna_folding?language=en>.

“DNA." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA>.

“James Gimzewski." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gimzewski>.

“Paul W. K. Rothemund." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_W._K._Rothemund>.

Week 9: Space & Art

This week we explored the parameters of space and art. When learning about space this week I discovered through the lectures and readings a lot about the history of space and how art is incorporated into the science of space.

During the space race, the world was fascinated with the idea of space and who could fly into it. The buzz around the world was about Laika the dog and the chimpanzee that attempted to go to space and it was displayed in the papers. From the 50s on the world was fascinated with space exploration and many TV shows displayed the publics fascination. Some shows and movies that have influenced popular culture and thinking about space are Planet Stories, Lost In Space, Star Trek, and even the Flintstones. These shows became popular based on the demand of curiosity people had during this time period.

It was a monumental moment when the first man landed on the moon and the United States was greatly taken by surprise because we thought we were more ahead of Russia in developing space rockets. People fed off the idea of space travel and artists fed off of this idea. One artist in particular was Chelsey Bonestell who received many awards and was nominated into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and the International Hall of Fame. He helped to popularize the idea of space even stating "In the years to come, it is probably destined to fire many imaginations, and therefore change many lives" (Bonestell). Artists like Chelsey were fascinated in exploring the mysterious concept of space similar to the public. Now we have recorded artwork documenting space exploration and embedded history.

Image of a space nebula

Image of the Rainbow Nebula

Image of the Milky Way Galaxy

Works Cited

“Chelsey Bonestell." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChelseyBonestell>.

“Chelsey Bonestell Biography." Nova Space Art. Web. 30 May. 2015 <http://www.novaspaceart.com/Artists/ChesleyBonestell.html>.

“Lost In Space." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LostInSpace>.

“Planet Stories." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlanetStories>.

“Star Trek." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarTrek>.

Week 7: Neuroscience and Art

I thought this weeks topic was the most interesting to date. Exploring the conscious and unconscious has peaked my interest in the work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Freud focused on sexuality through the unconscious while Jun believed the unconscious was a form of creativity. Jung created the idea of Archetypes and believes that everyone has an archetype from birth, which are predetermined patterns of thoughts that are programmed from birth and not learned. Vilayanur Ramachandran in his TED talk spoke about the 3 clues to understanding your brain and in doing so he displays the mind and body relationship. He explained the Capgras syndrome and how "you can no longer recognize peoples faces" (Vilayanur) and delusion, the phantom limb, and synesthesia. These 3 concepts reiterate how self-awareness is the holy grail of neuroscience and that the mind-body connection depict human actions and functions. Franz Joseph Gall originated phrenology, which was a model that was used to decipher mental functions and how certain characteristics were regionalized in specific parts of the brain.

Carl Jung

Sigmund Freud

Brain on LSD

This week’s topic is so important because it is relevant to us everyday considering the brain is the main organ we use every second of every day.  Our brains control every motion we make and every thought we think. The miraculous topic of neuroscience can be expressed through any artistic medium or form. Some examples of how neuroscience can be expressed is through artwork like the brainbow,  or through scientific organization, like phrenology, or even incorporating drugs like LSD and Cocaine to create a psychedelic experience. No matter how you look at neuroscience and art, they are incorporated into your life everyday.

“Carl Jung." Wikipedia. Web. 17 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CarlJung>.
“Sigmund Freud." Wikipedia. Web. 17 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund Freud>.
"Vilaynanur: 3 clues." TED. Web. 17 May. 2015. <http://www.ted.com/talks/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind?language=en>.
"Franz Joesph Call." Phrenology. Web. 17 May. 2015. <http://www.phrenology.com/franzjosephgall.html>.
"Five Fun Facts about the CIA and LSD." Cracked. Web. 17 May. 2015. <http://www.cracked.com/blog/five-fun-facts-about-the-cia-and-lsd/>.

Week 6 Biotech and Art

I do think that biotech and art wavers on a very fine line when considering the social and societal impacts of selective breeding, mutilation and mutation. Starting with selective breeding, I do believe that in the future we will certainly face a dilemma of selecting certain genes to be carried on to offspring to improve aesthetics and appearance while also being faced with other parents who wish certain genes to be carried on to avoid mental and physical handicaps. While many will argue that selective breeding will become an art and that we should be trying to create humans that will be as aesthetic as possible, others will consider that now we are playing God and are creating humans in vein of ourselves. Will this eventually lead to a sort of arms race in various countries trying to create a superhuman with parents mating and choosing for their offspring to receive the greatest height genes possible? Will the governments of countries force some citizens to mate to again create a sort of superhuman? All of this is possible and foreseeable in the future. I just hope that there is some sort of intervention that limits the possibility of this chaos. There will be a disparity of riches and wealth as I am sure this process will be expensive. I am all for eliminating genes that can cause autism or other handicaps, but when humans are being chosen or created for the means of another person or another government, I believe that our society will be faced with an interesting challenge.
Further, mutilation and mutation for artistic means is another fascinating subject. I do not think that it is proper for artists to proceed to do such acts on animals such as rats. I understand doing so for the sake of testing to be able to advance medicine for humans, but doing so soley for artistic purposes is not admired in my point of view. One area of 3-D printing for mutation I actually do like. I believe that this is definitely an advancement that crosses both borders that would help our human population if someone was to get severely injured and this would help them recover. That fact that it is possible to "analyze the DNA for identifiable traits, she used a computer model to predict the faces of the people who left them and used 3-D printing to recreate those faces" (Ghose, 1) inspires me. Overall, biotech and art are definitely going to be interlinked for a long time. There are certainly advancements in the future that we will see and will make this a very interesting crossover.

Ghose, Tia. "Bio-Art: 3D-Printed Faces Reconstructed from Stray DNA." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, Web. 

Miranda, Carolina. "Weird Science: Biotechnology as Art Form." ARTnews. 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 11 May 2015.

Motherboard. Experimenting With Biochip Implants. 2013. Web. 10 May 2015. Youtube.v

“Selective Breeding." Wikipedia. Web. 10 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SelectiveBreeding>.
Vesna, Victoria. "Mind Intro." YouTube. UCLA, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. <https://youtu.be/RF0Qt7L2-kM?t=37>.